


Lonely Together

by thecumberbinch



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: M/M, angsty crap, sad at the beginning but it get better I promise, sad stuff, the drums play a big part in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 05:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12928683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecumberbinch/pseuds/thecumberbinch
Summary: He realizes later that it wasn’t guilt: it was loneliness.He reminds himself again that he is the Master, and for that reason, he doesn’t need anyone no matter how lonely he feels.Loneliness is for cowards, he concludes.And then they find each other.





	Lonely Together

He is alone watching the sun burn up, the fiery light of death reflecting in his eyes. He thinks of Gallifrey for a moment; what he left behind, burning into dust.

            Then, he hears it: a faint sound echoing in the back of his head:

 

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

            Hope fills his veins like a drug, and he allows himself to believe, just for a minute, that he’s really out there.

 

            He decides in the end that it was just a distant memory.

But nonetheless, he begins to wonder.

 

~~~~

 

            He sits in a chair, holding a fob watch in his hands in his little spot at the end of the universe. He opens the watch, and with it unlocks his story, little by little.

            And hears it: that sound, a rhythmic beat reverberating through his mind:

 

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

            He sends it over the hivemind with a message:

 

_Can you hear it too, Theta?_

 

No one is alive to hear but he decides to give himself the satisfaction of not feeling so alone.

            He thinks he feels a crackle of electricity at the end of the line as he watches yet another planet fall to his knees.

            He ignores it.

 

_I don’t need you anymore_ , he thinks bitterly.

 

~~~~

 

The thought comes to him every once in a while, the _taptaptaptap_ of those drums, coming from somewhere far away, whether it is memories or another mind all the way across the universe.

            He ignores the hope that stabs him in the ribs right between his hearts. _It isn’t real_ , he chastises himself, _just a memory you’ve brought back because you’re a lonely soul with nothing else._

Then he sees a planet burning, and decides to stop whoever started it just in case it’s _him_ on the other side of the mess.

 

Hope is dangerous: but he can’t help checking every once and a while.

 

~~~~

He’s back burning planets and slaughtering millions when he feels it: a warm and gentle touch, but a real one.

And for a moment, the drums _stop._

His head is quiet, and for once he is at peace.

 

Then the tender touch is gone and he feels cold again; the drums are louder than before.

He pretends not to notice the wet tracks running down his face and the hiss his tears make as they hit the burning rubble.

 

He looks out and sees the destruction he’s caused and feels a stabbing pain in his hearts:

Is it possible he feels just a little bit guilty?

 

He realizes later that it wasn’t guilt: it was loneliness.

He reminds himself again that he is _the Master_ , and for that reason, he doesn’t need anyone no matter how lonely he feels.

 

_Loneliness is for cowards_ , he concludes.

 

~~~~

 

Time passes, like time does and everything changes just as much as it stays the same.

            The Doctor finds himself in a new place, a new planet, and a new solar system: no matter how old he gets his love of exploration never ceases. His Tardis ends up on top of a burning pile of rubble; he’s just about to address the situation as usual when he sees _him._

He’s regenerated a couple times, sure, but those eyes belong to no one else in the universe.

The Doctor knows those eyes.

The Master hears the telltale sign of the Doctor’s Tardis, and only the Doctor’s Tardis (after all, he always did leave the breaks on when he landed; he was always surprised that the Doctor hadn’t blown the thing up yet).

The Doctor begins to run, his footsteps in tandem with the beats of his hearts.

 

_One, two, three four._

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

The Master tentatively walks in the same direction and against all rational thought he smiles: not a malicious one, but a real one filled with love rather than hate.

            And then he’s running too: running to the same tandem of the drums in his head and the heartbeats in their chests getting quicker and quicker with the anticipation of being together again; touching and kissing like they used to centuries before.

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

_Faster,_ he thinks, _I need to reach you faster._

They’re both crying now; their psychic link is filled with endearments and teary confessions mixed in with memories from millennium before.

 

And then they find each other.

 

Their first kiss is messy and chaotic; desperate, wandering hands trying to find their way around a different body that’s completely different than the one they knew but just the same.

 

They may be the last of the Time Lords, and that leaves them alone in the universe.

But despite their loneliness, they are _together_.

 

~~~~

 

They will never forgive themselves for their mistakes, and they will never forget what they left behind, and the drums are still there, but the Doctor reminds him that those drums are just his heartbeats in the Master’s head and every one is a small little declaration of love for him.

When he’s lying awake and staring at the ceiling while sleep eludes him, he listens to the beats of the Doctor’s hearts in his head.

 

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

_One, two, three, four._

 

And he holds the Doctor just a little bit tighter just to let him know he cares.

 


End file.
